Monroe asks for sales tax increase to pay for police

Published 12:01 am Monday, October 10, 2011

MONROE — Voters will decide if the sales-tax rate should increase to help pay to hire two police officers.

The city’s sales-tax rate could increase by one-tenth of 1 percent if ballot measure No. 1 is approved Nov. 8. If it does, the sales tax would go to 8.7 percent.

Currently, Monroe has a sales tax of 8.6 percent, which is the same rate as in Lake Stevens, Sultan and Marysville.

With the increase, the city projects a maximum revenue bump of $250,000 a year. It would pay for two $100,000-a-year police officer positions.

“I think it’s a fair way to raise revenue,” Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer said.

The estimated 2012 police budget is $6.01 million. The department’s budget this year was $5.79 million. The increase is due to money coming from traffic-enforcement cameras. Revenue expected from the traffic enforcement cameras would offset the $320,000 the city pays to Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems, finance director Dianne Nelson said.

Last year, budget cuts forced the department to lose 4.5 positions. In addition, expenses such as medical costs have increased for next year, Quenzer said.

The budget constraints have caused Monroe police to reduce services. For example, they stopped making vacation house checks this year, and need to prioritize life-threatening calls over vandalism reports. The result is a delay in delivering services, he said.

The department also was unable to act on the scheduled purchase of four police cars this year.

Even if the tax increase is approved, the hiring process wouldn’t start until January 2013.

That’s because the department wouldn’t see the new revenue until July 2012. Any remaining revenue would pay for equipment, Quenzer said.

The department has 37 commissioned positions, six of which are vacant, spokeswoman Debbie Willis said.

Only one fourth of calls to the police come from homeowners. The rest are from people traveling through Monroe, or who live outside city limits or are renting property there, Quenzer said.

In other words, most of the calls come from people who do not directly pay property taxes.

If the measure passes, Monroe would be the second city to increase the sales tax rate with voter approval. In August, Snohomish voters backed a 0.2 percent sales increase to help pay for transportation projects.

Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.